Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898)

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Germanĭcus Caesar

The son of Nero Claudius Drusus, adopted son of his uncle Tiberius, and

Germanicus. (Louvre.)

grandson of Livia, the wife of Augustus, born B.C. 15. In A.D. 7 he became quaestor, five years before the legal age; and in the same year served with distinction in the war against the Pannonians and Dalmatians. In the year 11 he accompanied Tiberius in his campaigns against the Germans, who were flushed with the pride of their recent exploit in annihilating the Roman legions of Varus; but after a few desultory incursions he returned to Rome. In A.D. 14, however, he was put in command of eight legions stationed on the Rhine. He was first called upon to quell a formidable revolt of the Roman troops, who on the death of Augustus mutinied for increased pay and a shorter term of service. Tact and firmness, united to great affability of demeanor, on the part of Germanicus, made him successful in his task, and he became the idol of the army, though for a long time the disaffection smouldered and at times broke out into open rebellion. At last, however, a campaign against the enemy was begun. Germanicus crossed the Rhine and fell upon the hostile Marsi, laying waste their territory for fifty miles and sparing neither age nor sex. On his return he routed the formidable tribes of the Bructeri, the Tubantes, and the Usipetes, who tried to block his way. In A.D. 15 he attacked the Catti, took their chief town (Mattium), and treated the foe with the same unsparing severity. Soon afterwards, he took prisoner Thusnelda, the patriotic wife of the German hero Arminius. She was pregnant at the time, and her husband, infuriated at her capture, roused up not only his own people, the Cherusci, but all the neighbouring tribes, and hurled his forces upon the Romans. Near the Teutoburg Forest, where bleached the bones of Varus and his legions, Germanicus again met the Germans. The conflict was long and doubtful. The Romans finally prevailed over the undisciplined valour of the barbarian hosts; yet so uncertain was the result that the victors decided to retire to the Rhine, which was done amid continuous fighting. In the next year, with a flotilla of 1000 vessels, he undertook another campaign on the lower Rhine. A great battle was fought on the plain of Idistavisus (near Hausberg), in which Arminius and his warriors were utterly routed. Arminius himself only escaped by disguising his person. It was on the occasion of this battle that eight eagles were seen hovering over the forest. “Come!” cried Germanicus to his troops, “Follow the birds of Rome, your own divinities!”—an exhortation that excited the courage of the legions to the highest pitch. Later, he once more devastated the country of the Marsi and the Catti.

In A.D. 16, Tiberius, who was jealous of his growing fame, recalled him to Rome. The whole population poured out to meet him, and on the 26th of May he celebrated his triumph with great splendour, Thusnelda being led along the Via Sacra among the captives. Soon afterwards, Germanicus was placed over the Eastern Provinces with the highest imperium; but Tiberius set Cn. Piso in command of Syria, probably with secret instructions to thwart and embarrass Germanicus in every possible way. Piso's wife Plancina, also, a haughty and imperious woman, was incited by the ex-empress Livia, mother of Tiberius, to annoy, in innumerable petty ways, the noble wife of Germanicus, Agrippina, who had been his companion in all his campaigns, and whose influence had on one occasion even quelled a revolt of the soldiery (Tac. Ann. i. 41). As was to be expected, a bitter quarrel soon arose between Germanicus and Piso, and when Germanicus fell ill in A.D. 19, rumours that Piso had poisoned him were rife; though Germanicus himself attributed his illness to sorcery. His death took place on October 9th of the same year.

Agrippina, wife of Germanicus. (Capitoline Museum, Rome.)

Tacitus says that his body bore no marks of poison ( Ann. ii. 73). Never had Rome more deeply lamented the death of an illustrious son. His liberal views, unostentatious demeanour, and kind heart, combined with courage and military genius, made the whole people his admirers. Unusual honours were granted to him on his death—a public tomb, a triumphal arch, and the insertion of his name in the Salian Hymns. He left six children, among whom were Gaius (Caligula), and Agrippina, the mother of Nero.

Distinguished as much for culture as for military accomplishments, he was an orator and author as well as a general. Ovid, who dedicated to him the second edition of his Fasti, praises his poetry. His paraphrase of the Phaenomena of Aratus in 725 lines, and three fragments (246 lines) of a paraphrase of the same writer's Prognostica, still survive. They are remarkable for learning, command of metre, and a pleasing style. The Phaenomena is dedicated to Tiberius, and described by the author himself as the work of a beginner. These poems used erroneously to be attributed to Domitian, who did not, however, take the title of Germanicus until he was emperor. Three collections of scholia upon them, by no means without value, have also survived. The best edition of the Aratea of Germanicus, with the scholia, is that of Breysig (Berlin, 1867). See Beaufort, Hist. de César Germanicus (Leyden, 1741); Beulé, Tibère et l' Héritage d' Auguste (1870); and Höfer, Feldzug des Germanicus im Jahr 16 (1885).